Ryanair Cancelling 220 Flights Due to French ATC Strikes During May Bank Holiday Weekend

Ryanair has announced that it will cancel 220 flights due to a recent air traffic controller strike in France. This move impacts about 40,000 passengers who intended to travel over the May bank holiday weekend. Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, was informed by French authorities that over 200 flights would have to be cancelled. In a statement on Facebook, Mr O’Leary criticized the French airport ATC staff strike and described its impact as “completely unacceptable”. He added that the cancellations will largely affect flights that pass over France. Ryanair has apologized to affected passengers and has sent notifications via email to them. The airline has not provided details of the Irish flights affected. Mr O’Leary suggested that overflights in other countries such as Italy and Greece were protected during strikes, and that the flights affected were not necessarily originating from French airports. He called on French authorities to cancel their flights and protect overflights as a fair compromise.